Uvalde school police chief faulted in shooting response
Associated PressThe police official blamed for not sending officers in more quickly to stop the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting is the chief of the school system’s small police force, a unit dedicated ordinarily to building relationships with students and responding to the occasional fight. “The tactical, conceptual mindset is definitely there in Texas,” said Joe McKenna, deputy superintendent for the Comal school district in Texas and a former assistant director at the state’s school safety center. The police department for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District says on its website that its primary goal is “to maintain a safe and secure environment for our future leaders to learn and our current leaders to educate while forming partnerships with students, teachers, parents, and the community while enforcing laws and reducing fears.” The active shooter training was mandated by state lawmakers in 2019 in response to school shootings. It’s about saving lives.” Under the incident command approach that was widely adopted after 9/11, it is unsurprising that the school police chief would be considered the commander, even following the arrival of officers from other agencies, McKenna said. “Obviously it’s still an ongoing investigation, but it would make sense that a police chief of a school district would be the initial incident commander,” McKenna said.